Fan mesh disrupter

ABSTRACT

An expandable-retractable fan mesh disrupter for camouflaging the shape ofhe item it is attached to. The disrupter is fabricated of materials and attachments to facilitate rapid emplacement and displacement. In their emplaced expanded condition they confuse potential air and ground observers as to the identity of the objects.

DEDICATORY CLAUSE

The invention described herein was made in the course of or under acontract or subcontract thereunder with the Government and may bemanufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government forgovernmental purposes without the payment to me of any royaltiesthereon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of camouflage. The present daytechniques of camouflage uses the standard netting procedure. In thisprocedure excessive time is required to deploy and retract thecamouflage material and acts as a determent of the camouflageeffectiveness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has provided a solution to the above statedproblem by utilizing a fan mesh disrupter that is expandable to an openposition and retracted to a closed position. This feature along with theease of mounting and dismounting the disrupter has greatly reduced thedeployment time and hence increase the camouflage effectiveness.

This invention may be better understood from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the deployment of several disrupters on a missile systemradar.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the disrupter assembly.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the disrupter assembly.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the disrupter with the camouflage fabricattached.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As seen in FIG. 1 several fan mesh disrupters 8 are mounted on a missilesystem radar set 6.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 reference numeral 10 indicates analuminum hub provided with a plurality of radial slots 12 equally spacedabout the periphery of the hub. The hub is provided with a threaded topopening 14 while the hub bottom is provided with a counter-bore recess16. A ring 18 of corrosion-resistant steel is split at 20 to allowinsertion of support ribs 22. The ring 18 is disposed in the recess 16and ribs 22 are placed in slots 12. A locking plate 24 is placed inengagement with the ring and rib ends to act as a supporting surfacetherefor. Lock screw 26 is screwed through the top of the hub and thelocking plate 24 is secured to the end of the screw by a washer 27 andcotter pin 28. A spacer cup 30 is fitted over the bottom of the hub andthe depth of the spacer or flange 32 of the cup is determined by thetype of the disrupter on which it is used. There are several basicconfigurations of disrupters used to camouglage a missile system. Thespacer cup and hub are secured to a base assembly 34 by screws 36.

As shown in FIG. 4 the support ribs 22 have auxiliary ribs 22a pivotallyattached thereto and the camouflage mesh netting 38 is secured to allribs. This disrupter netting is a woven dacron mesh with a 1/4 inchsquare hole size and is fashioned into a diameter fan shape havingconvolutions. The number of convolutions depends upon whether it is toform a 180°, 270° or 360° final configuration.

In placing the disrupters on the equipment to be camouflaged, the baseassembly 34 is interlocked with a corresponding bracket on the equipmentand secured. The fan mesh disrupter is then expanded to disrupt thesurrounding scenery for camouflage purposes.

I claim:
 1. An expandable-retractable fan mesh disrupter for use incamouflaging equipment attached thereto, said disrupter comprising: ahub provided with a threaded top opening, said hub having a plurality ofradial slots equally spaced about its outer periphery, the bottom ofsaid hub being provided with a counter-bored recess; a split ringdisposed in said recess; a plurality of mesh supporting ribs attached tosaid split ring, said ribs being disposed in said slots; camouflage meshconnected to said ribs; a locking plate located in said recess to engageand support the ends of said ribs; means for securing said locking plateto said hub whereby said ribs may be moved thereon to expand or retractcamouflage mesh disrupter, said securing means including a lock screwfor engaging said threaded top opening and a cotter pin at the lower endof said lock screw for engaging said locking plate, and a spacer cupconnected to said hub and a flange extending upward from said cup andsurrounding said hub to limit movement of said ribs in said radialslots.